


Wildside

by jordahparrish



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Photographer, Babysitting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-08-09 20:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7815208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jordahparrish/pseuds/jordahparrish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the organised and prepared Alec Lightwood meets the unorganised mess that is Magnus Bane at an interview for a photography internship, he’s glad to know he’ll probably never have to meet him again. Until an accidental switch of phones lands Magnus a job babysitting, which only ends in disaster. Alec, Magnus and the children end up going on a mission to make sure everything seems normal when the parents get back. Things end up going in an entirely different direction to how Alec originally planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wildside

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of the Disney Movie Adventures In Babysitting, it doesn't follow the story exactly but I've taken parts of it to make it... Less Disney I guess (so no, Alec and Magnus won't have a rap battle and there are no Sapphire Ferrets)  
> And I'm also sorry, the Saphael is only small but it's cute, I swear.

Alec Lightwood enjoyed order and perfection, he was thoroughly organised with everything he did - he didn't want to be stressed any time soon. He was interested in photography - as a hobby. He had designed his entire portfolio of his favourite photographs, most of them involving his younger sister Izzy. Izzy looked beautiful all the time so he made the most of his sister's beauty. His favourite photo was placed three pages in, their family had gone to a peaceful place in England on vacation. Izzy was posing in front of a waterfall, her back turned to the camera with her arms held out, something about the photo just made Alec feel at peace, and peace was the only way Alec wanted to feel.

***

Magnus Bane had no cares for peace, he'd go through many lengths to accomplish the oddest challenges. Like Alec, he loved photography. It started out as a simple hobby but turned into a love when he won a camera at a local photography competition. Unlike Alec, Magnus was an unorganised mess. Being a mess meant Magnus was spending the last ten minutes he had left before needing to leave to finish his example work.

***

Both boys were up for a job with creative genius, Luke Garroway. Luke Garroway was somewhat famous when it came to Brooklyn photographers, and Magnus would admit that he was a very big fan of Luke's work. Alec wouldn't admit that he only knew of the man when he found out about the job. Luke Garroway probably wasn't entirely excited about latecomers so both of the boys hurried to meet the man himself. Alec knew he had competition so he was prepared for someone who was hardworking - just not as hardworking as him. Magnus couldn't care less about his competitors, he knew that he had a talent in photography and if the other person was as talented as him, then he wouldn't care too much.   
When Magnus arrived he parked sloppily and ran inside the building, so his piece hadn't dried as quickly as he hoped and he had to attack it with a hairdryer, but he was only a minute or so late. He ran inside the building and up the stairs, stopping when a tall boy was in his way.  
"Oh, hi, would you be able to tell Mr. Garroway that Magnus Bane is here for the photography gig? Thanks."  
"I don't work here," the boy squinted back at Magnus.  
"You don't..."  
"No, I'm also here for the _photography gig_ ," the boy sarcastically mimicked Magnus and then rolled his eyes, "I guess someone doesn't take the chance for an internship seriously."  
"Well, this photography internship would be very serious for me," Magnus mumbled as he turned away from the other boy.  
"Right, well, _Magnus Bane_ , you know that you're here five minutes later than we were asked to be here, right?"  
"The paint wasn't dry," Magnus shrugged.  
"To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, to be late is unacceptable," the tall boy quoted, it was as though it were his mantra or something.   
"I bet a wet art piece would be even more unacceptable."  
"You left it last minute, wow-" the boy was cut off when his phone began to ring, some classical song that Magnus pulled a face at. The boy automatically held up a finger, telling Magnus to wait and then held the phone to his ear, "hello, this is Alec."  
 _Who in this modern day answers the phone like that?_ Magnus thought as he stared at the boy.   
"Tonight? I'm already booked with the Lewis family... Ms. Belcourt, I'm sorry, I've never had to turn down a job before but I can't do it," he waited, the woman on the other end must have been speaking when Magnus began speaking again, Magnus pulled out his phone, "no I... I don't know anybody who can, I'm so sorry. Okay, I'll talk to you soon," as Alec ended his call Magnus began to move and something odd happened that caused the boys to bump into each other.   
Both boys dropped their identical phones, they fell to the ground to pick up their phones, Magnus glared at Alec, "you're such a klutz."  
"Oh shut up Mr. Wet Paint," Alec retorted, it was a ridiculous remark that actually made Magnus snort out a laugh. The each picked up a phone and scrambled to stand as they were greeted by Luke Garroway and his assistant, Alaric.   
"Boys," Luke grinned as the two boys stood up again, "welcome, I see you've both already met."  
"We're the only two?" Alec raised his eyebrows at the man and then grinned to Magnus, "well this will be a breeze."  
"Savage," Magnus hissed quietly to Alec.  
"So hand over your pieces and I'll take a look," the boys both automatically held out their work. Alec held out a black folder which looked like it was full of photographs, Magnus held out a still soggy purple canvas with one photo of himself 'artistically' torn and stuck onto the canvas. The photo was an 'artsy mirror selfie' that Magnus didn't want to waste for likes on Instagram, instead he decided to use it as his last minute plan. Okay so perhaps he had woken up and realised he didn't have a photo to hand in to Luke Garroway.   
"Oh, sorry it's still a bit wet," Magnus warned Luke, whilst Alec shot Magnus a look of disgust, Luke just gave a swift nod of the head. He and Alaric then turned to walk back to his office to scan over the work that the boys handed in.   
"I doubt he'll like the fact that you left it to the very last minute," Alec almost growled.  
"Could you lay off, Nancy Drew?" Magnus turned to Alec in disgust, "let me live my slobbish, non-organised life, okay?"  
"Fine," Alec rolled his eyes and moved over to the sofas to wait for Mr. Garroway's outcome.  
"Neat," Magnus commented before jumping down on to one of the sofas, "not as comfortable as it looked," he leaned up on one of his elbows and looked over to Alec, "so what's up your butt, Nancy Drew?"  
"Nothing. Nothing is up my butt, and stop calling me Nancy Drew! I have a name."  
"I know, Alec," Magnus nodded over to the boy, "what's that short for?"  
"Alexander, obviously."  
"Usually Alex is short for Alexander."  
"Well my sister always called me Alec when she was younger because she couldn't pronounce the X, so I stuck to Alec."  
"Aw, cute."  
"Don't patronise me."  
"Sorry, Nancy."  
"Stop calling me that!"  
"Alright Alexander."  
"That, that I don't mind as much," Alec mumbled, he silenced for a moment and stared over to the office that Alaric and Luke had disappeared into. He was about to check his phone when Magnus spoke again.  
"I bet you didn't even know who Luke Garroway was before this job came up."  
Alec pulled a face at Magnus, so perhaps he was right, but he didn't need to gloat about being right so Alec scoffed, "I happen to be quite a big fan of his work."  
"Right," Magnus nodded, "and your favourite piece of his work is...?"  
"Well," Alec began his sentence slowly, something must come to interrupt them soon, "I like..." It was his lucky day because Alaric and Luke returned from their decision.  
"Boys," Luke welcomed the two with a warm smile, "both of you have handed in promising pieces of work, and we've decided to go with something we wouldn't usually do."  
"Well, I'm sorry," Magnus whispered to Alec.  
"We're giving you both an extension," Luke explained, "come back to us the morning after tomorrow, we'll make a decision then. We want you both to bring us something that is... Different, innovative."  
"Different, innovative," Magnus cocked his head to the side, "easy."  
"I'll see you boys soon," Luke nodded and then moved away from them.   
"This seems hardly fair considering the time constraints," Alec mumbled as he thought about the babysitting.  
Magnus turned to Alec with a smug smirk, "well that does suck, see you soon then buddy," he commented to the taller boy before running down the stairs and out of the building. He jogged over to his car and quickly jumped inside.  
As he was about to pull away from the building his phone suddenly blared out the same classical tune that had played when Alec had received a call.   
"Oh no," Magnus mumbled as he looked at the phone, Ms. Belcourt was calling him - the same person Alec had spoken to earlier, he cleared his throat and put on his best low and miserable tone before answering the phone, "hello, this is Alec."  
"Alec, are you sure you can't find anybody? You must have a friend, tell them I'm willing to pay double."  
"Double?"  
"Fifty dollars, please Alec, this is a really importa-"  
"I have a friend," Magnus, as Alec, suddenly admitted, "My friend Magnus will do it, hold on let me pass the phone to him," he held the phone away from him and sighed before going back to his own voice and holding the phone to his ear, "hello?"  
"Oh hello Magnus, will you be okay to babysit for me tonight, you're a friend of Alec so you must be trustworthy."  
"Oh yes ma'am, I assure you, I am. I'll be able to babysit tonight, would you be able to tell me the address and I'll write it down?"  
"Of course."  
As soon as Magnus managed to grab a notebook and a pen from his bag that was on the passenger seat, Mrs. Belcourt read out the address and whispered many thank yous to Magnus before ending the call with a 'I'll see you at six'.

***

Alec relaxed back in his seat and had finally pulled away from the building when loud rock music from the phone made him jump in a panic. He pulled over at the side of the road and looked down at the phone that he had placed on the passenger seat.  
"No," he looked at the phone and noticed a smudge of purple paint on the back of the phone, "oh no, no, no."  
Somebody was calling the phone, _'Catarina'_ , Alec declined the call and dropped the phone again, this time with the screen up. He looked at the screen - it was a photo of two cats relaxed on a dark bedsheet. Alec pulled a face at the picture - so that tough Magnus boy liked cats.   
Alec wanted to scream, he wanted to run back into the building and go looking for Magnus but he didn't have time, he had to be at the Lewis's house within the next hour and it was always better to be early than to be on time. 

***

Alec arrived at the Lewis house five minutes before he was needed, he pressed the doorbell and waited for the door to open. Finally Elaine opened the door as she was pulling a heel on.  
"Oh Alec, thank God, thank you so much for coming tonight," she smiled up to him once she managed to pull the shoe on, "I'm so glad you're here, come in," she waved him in and then glanced around, "Simon and Becca are in the living room you have fun, but you should know that Simon is banned from touching the expensive decoration, vases and photoframes included and Becca is banned from my jewelry boxes."  
"Of course Ms. Lewis."  
"It should be a breeze, they're calmer than usual tonight," Elaine waved a hand, "thank you again, I should be back by midnight, if not then perhaps 1am!" She ran out of the house once Alec had entered. Alec walked into the living room and smiled when he saw the two Lewis children calmly sat on the sofa, they weren't that young - Simon was fifteen and refused to believe that he needed a babysitter, Becca was thirteen and just agreed with whatever Simon said.   
"Hi Alec," Becca leaned over the sofa as Alec entered, she grinned to the boy.

***

Magnus knocked heavily on the door and crossed his arms as he waited, finally the door was opened by a young girl.  
"Hi," Magnus spoke in a condescending town, "who are you?" He jumped when the door was slammed in his face, "okay then."  
The door opened again and a woman with dark hair smiled at Magnus, "I'm so sorry, Lily's throwing a tantrum because I'm not taking her to the cinema like I promised. I made a mistake. Raphael is upstairs, he's grounded so he can come down for dinner but that's all."  
"Fair enough," Magnus shrugged.  
"Also, Maia Roberts is with us this week and she's in the kitchen baking one hundred cupcakes for her Junior Chef competition, but don't let her use the cooker whilst I'm gone. The hot tub is out of bounds"  
"Of course," Magnus shrugged.  
"Are you sure you're going to be okay looking after three children? Oh, of course you are, Alec recommended you."  
Magnus gave a proud nod and watched as the woman said goodbye to her children, she quickly scribbled her name on a piece of card and held it out to Magnus, "this is my mobile number in case you need to get in touch with me, have fun looking after the children and thank you so much for this."  
"It'll be a breeze," Magnus waved his hand to the woman and then smiled as she ran out of the house. Magnus wondered around the house and looked into the kitchen to see Maia stood by the counter, she was decorating some already made cakes and gasped as Magnus walked in.  
"Oh!" She picked up a bowl and ran over to Magnus, "can you taste this for me?"  
"With pleasure," Magnus dipped a finger into the bowl and quickly tasted some of the green icing, "that's good, what makes it green?"  
"That would be the melted gummy worms," Maia shrugged and then let out a laugh, she ran back to the counter, "can I make dinner tonight? I'm practicing my savoury dishes."  
"Sure you can," Magnus carelessly responded he wandered through the house, "is that hot tub out back?"   
"Yeah."  
"Cool," Magnus wandered through to the back, the hot tub was in plain sight, he easily turned the hot tub on, stripped down to his underwear and jumped in. Barely a second later he heard screaming from inside the house, he turned around to see Maia tapping on the window.   
Magnus ran inside and looked around the kitchen, one of the kitchen towels had caught on fire and Maia had thrown it across the room.  
"What do we do?" Maia squealed.  
"Uh... Fire extinguisher!" Magnus called, "this is a rich person's house, there must be a fire extinguisher," Magnus ran out of the room to find an extinguisher, as he left the room the classical music started to play from his, well Alec's, phone. Out of curiousity, Lily answered the call.  
"Hey, Magnus, right?"  
"No, it's Lily."  
"Lily, Lily Chen-Belcourt? What are... If Magnus there?"  
"He's a bit busy," Lily commented as she watched Magnus run back in with the fire extinguisher.   
"Doing what?"  
"Putting out the fire."

***

"Fire!?" Alec yelled down the phone, "oh my God, okay Lily, I'm going to be over right away, stay safe I'll be right there."  
"Okay."  
Alec ended the call and looked to the two Lewis children, "right kids, we're going on an adventure, come on, grab your coats.  
"Where are we going?"  
"The Belcourts."  
"Belcourt?" Simon gasped, "Raphael lives with them!"   
Alec pointed the kids out to his car once they had pulled on their coats, he ran out to his car and quickly drove to the Belcourt house. He couldn't believe that a stupid switch of phones could make such a mess of things, he'd never be asked to babysit again - he just know he wouldn't.   
When he reached the Belcourt house, he saw Magnus knocking on the front door, for some odd reason Magnus was in his underwear and his hair was wet. Alec pulled up in front of the house and jumped out of the car, he stormed over to Magnus with the two Lewis kids following him.   
"What the hell are you doing?" Alec yelled. Magnus turned around slowly and put on a fake smile.  
"Babysitting."  
"In what world is this babysitting?"   
"In the world where Lily shut me out," Magnus let out an awkward laugh.  
"You're in your underwear!"  
"I was in the hot tub."  
"Why?"  
"Because I was stressed," Magnus sighed and gave Alec a fed up look.  
Alec rolled his eyes and pressed the doorbell which Magnus hadn't bothered to notice, "Lily Chen-Belcourt, let me in right now!"  
The door opened and the girl looked up with an apologetic face, Alec ran into the house and looked over to where Maia Roberts was stood in some state of shock. Alec quickly picked up the phone that belonged to him and gave the other phone to Magnus.  
"Is everyone okay? Where's Raphael?" Alec turned to Magnus for an answer but Magnus stood confused.  
"Who's Raphael?"  
"Are you kidding me? Rule number one, never take your eyes off the children," Alec ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs, Magnus slowly followed him, the kids curiously joined in.   
As they reached the empty bedroom that belonged to Raphael, Alec turned to Magnus, "you're kidding me? How long have you even been here?"  
"Like thirty minutes."  
"Thirty minutes? Thirty minutes and you've managed to set fire to the kitchen, get locked outside in your underwear and lose a child! Do you have any idea what the word 'responsibility' even means? Or are you too stupid being an _artsy student of life_ to give a crap about anyone else other than yourself? I mean seriously, I don't even know you!"  
"You don't?" Lily raised an eyebrow, "because mom thinks you do."  
"Well," Alec cleared his throat, "I meant that in the... in a way that, I don't know what she's become, you know?"  
"Look we need to find Raphael," Magnus changed the topic swiftly, "so where would he go," Magnus looked around the room when his eyes caught sight of a band poster, "The Fae. The Fae have a gig in the city tonight."  
"The Fae?" Alec cocked his head to the side, "and they are?"  
"An Indie Rock group, led by some guy that goes by the name Meliorn..."  
"Oh my God," Alec sighed, "yeah my sister listens to them."  
"So do I," Simon cleared his throat, "and... if it helps, I think I heard Raphael and his friends talking about buying tickets..."  
"Fantastic," Alec grunted, "where would he buy tickets from?"  
"The venue," Magnus offered a suggestion, "we'll have to drive into the city to find him."  
"My car is too small for this lot, and I am not letting any of them in your car."  
"Mommy has a car that we can fit into," Lily casually stated, "she didn't want to take it to the party tonight because she didn't want to take it into the city."  
"Perfect," Magnus clapped his hands together, "where are the keys?"  
"No! We are not taking the car, that Ms. Belcourt doesn't want into the city, into the city! I'll go by myself."  
"Rule number one," Magnus held up a finger, "never take your eyes off the children, you want to leave them alone with me? Alright, but you saw how that turned out earlier," he gestured to the messy kitchen where he had been running around to put out the fire.  
"Take the kids into the city? No way, their parents wouldn't like that."  
"And I'm sure my mom wouldn't like you leaving us with a stranger," Lily mumbled and then shot Alec a look, "so..."  
"Okay fine! We'll take Ms. Belcourt's car, but I'm driving!"

***

During the car journey, Magnus had held up his camera several times to take photos, he mumbled about them being used to hand in to Luke Garroway, which made Alec roll his eyes. As Alec was driving was driving past a pizza place, Simon suddenly shouted from the backseat.  
"That's Raphael's bike! He's the only person who has the caution tape tied around his handlebars, I could recognise it from a mile away."  
"You're a genius," Magnus turned around in the passenger seat.   
"Or a stalker," Lily quietly commented as she looked at Simon.  
"Shut up."  
Alec pulled over in front of the pizza place and quickly jumped out, not caring for his surroundings. The children and Magnus followed him into the building. Alec looked around the restaurant before he caught sight of Raphael sitting with two of his friends, Alec stormed over to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. Raphael jumped and turned around.   
"Alec?"  
"What are you doing sneaking out of the house?"  
"Well it was pretty easy to be honest... Your friend wasn't paying too much attention."  
"He's not my friend," Alec hissed, "he's a liar, he shouldn't be looking after you, he has no clue how to even talk to children!"  
"Right..."  
"Now you're coming back home, we're leaving here with no trouble, none at all, okay?"  
"But my ticket, I paid like fifty dollars for this."  
"Well that's your problem," Alec shrugged, "get up, we're going home!"  
"Fine," Raphael sighed, he followed Alec and the other children out of the pizza place, Magnus followed them - frowning as he glanced down at his phone. When Alec got outside he went wideyed at the sight, "no," he ran over as Ms. Belcourt's car was being towed, "no! Hey you can't take that!"  
"I can," the driver looked out of the window of her truck, "you were in a no parking zone, there's warning signs for a reason."  
"No, you don't understand! I'm a babysitter and I had to drive all the way into the-"  
"Save the sob story kid, you give me a hundred bucks and I'll give you the car back."  
"I don't have that money!"  
"Sucks," the woman shrugged, "get the money by midnight and you can get it back today."  
"Come on!" Alec yelled, "okay, how about I give you the money in the next few days and take the car now?"  
The driver rolled her eyes and drove away, leaving Alec, Magnus and the children defeated.  
"Mom is going to kill you," Raphael scoffed as he watched his mother's new car being towed away.   
"Shut up!" Magnus hissed to the young boy.   
"What do we do now?" Maia asked as she tugged on Alec's jacket.  
"We return home... And we admit our mistakes."  
"Are you kidding me?" Magnus raised an eyebrow, "no, we don't do that. We sell Raphael's ticket for a hundred dollars, simple."  
"Who would buy the ticket for that much money?"  
"A diehard fan of The Fae," Magnus smiled and began to walk down the path, Raphael had grabbed his bike from the side of the pizza place. The group followed Magnus, Alec ran to catch up with the other 'babysitter'.  
"Do you know where you're going?"   
"Yes," Magnus answered the question as though it was stupid, "we continued down here, take a left, walk through the alley and then we're at the venue."  
"Through an alley?" Alec choked on his words, "I... I am not going through an alley in the city."  
"Relax, it'll be an adventure," Magnus grinned and held the camera up to Alec, he managed to take a picture of Alec with the children following him, "you look like a mother duck," Magnus tutted and then gave a smile.  
"Why do you still have your stupid camera at a time like this?"  
"My camera is not stupid, I won it at my first ever photography competition... It's the reason I love photography so much."  
As the older boys argued, Simon moved to Raphael's side with a sweet smile, "hi..."  
Raphael glanced at Simon and then looked away almost in disgust, "you?"  
"Uh... Yeah, me."  
Raphael looked back to Simon and down to the boy's shirt, he chuckled as he read it _I get no sleep because there's no rest for the wicked_ , "cool shirt."  
Simon felt as though Raphael had just showered him in one hundred gifts by that one compliment, "you like it? I have another one that's exactly the same, because my mom bought me one for my birthday and then my friend Clary bought me one as well, I can give one to you if you'd like!"  
"That would be pretty cool," Raphael nodded and then gave Simon a quick smile.  
The children followed through the alley but Magnus assured them it would be alright, he held hands with one of the children, Becca Lewis. She stayed close by Magnus's side as they wandered through the dark alley but after a moment she got used to it and began to skip ahead, Magnus held up his camera. He turned on the flash and quickly snapped a picture of the girl in the alley. The photo was a beautiful contrast, a girl in a bright yellow dress in a dark alley, it could be perfect for the photography internship.  
It wasn't too long until they reached the venue, Magnus grabbed the ticket from Raphael and gave his camera to Becca. He offered the ticket to several people who walked past him but all of them already seemed to have tickets. After five people had walked past him, he was approached by a police officer.  
"You're not reselling a ticket at the venue, are you?"  
"Well... No sir," Magnus cleared his throat, "I'm not, I'm really not..."  
"RIght, then what are you selling for one hundred dollars?" The office raised an eyebrow.  
"Uh, myself?"  
"Oh dear God," Alec buried his face in his hands as he listened to the conversation.  
"You do realise that prostitution is worse than reselling a ticket, right?"  
"I do," Magnus nodded, "yet here I am."  
"Right, you're coming with me," the officer sighed in defeat and grabbed Magnus's wrist.  
"Wait, wait, it was a joke, I'm not a prostitute, I'm a babysitter and we need to get one hundred dollars to get our car back because we accidentally parked in a towaway zone when we were trying to find one of the kids again and it's not even our car it belongs to the mother of some of the kids!"  
"You stole a car!"  
"Well not stole, borrowed."  
"Stop making it worse!" Alec hissed.  
"Were you given permission to take the car?"  
"Well not entirely."  
"So you stole it," the officer led Magnus away, "come on, you're going to the station."  
"This is so unfair!" Magnus groaned as the officer took him to his car, he looked over his shoulder to see Becca taking a photo to save the moment. 

***

Alec and the children raced into the station, Alec stopped at the desk and leaned forward to the woman, "hey, uh... So do you know where Magnus Bane is? He's a teenager, arrested for reselling a ticket at a venue, suggesting prostitution and also suspected theft of a motor vehicle."  
"He's being booked."  
"Booked? As in arrested?"  
"As in, yeah," the woman mimicked Alec and then pointed him to the seats, "you kids sit down, we'll let you know when he's done talking to the officer."

***

Magnus frowned as he looked at the officer, he let out a small sigh, "look, everything is kind of... Upside down right now, I pretended to be a babysitter and I'm not a babysitter."  
"So you're admitting fraud as well?"  
"No! No! Look, I've never done a bad thing, nothing except parking tickets, I swear," Magnus glanced up and saw a familiar face stop by the door of the room.  
"Hey officer, is this kid giving you trouble?" The voice made Magnus smile, his old friend, Ragnor Fell, entered. Magnus had forgotten about his friends involvement with the law, "how about I take it from here?"  
"Alright."  
The man left Ragnor with Magnus. Ragnor greeted his friend with a grin.  
"What have you got yourself into, Mag?"  
"Well, that officer thinks that I'm involved in prostitution, that's my own fault to be fair."  
"What did you do?"  
"I was trying to sell a ticket for a hundred dollars so that we could get Ms. Belcourt's car back because it was towed away. We lost one of the kids so we went to find him and then the car was taken away and then she said we could only get it back for a hundred dollars..."  
"Magnus..."  
"And I mean we probably shouldn't have been using Ms. Belcourt's car but..."  
"It's okay," Ragnor shrugged, "I know you wouldn't do anything like that in a bad way, you wouldn’t steal a car."  
"I can't be arrested Ragnor, not when I'm so close to getting this photography internship."  
"I can let you go," Ragnor nodded, "but you owe me, and I need you to remember... You might not be a babysitter, but those kids out there will be looking up to you - they'll think what you do is the right thing to do," Ragnor sighed, he pointed Magnus though to the waiting room. When the children saw Magnus they raced over to hug him.  
"Hey, I'm glad you're okay," Alec smiled at the other boy, "but... what are we going to do? About the car? No way can we get a hundred dollars before midnight."  
Magnus looked down to the camera that Becca was holding, he pulled a face and held his hand out for the camera.   
"I have an idea," he mumbled as he looked at the camera, "we need to find a pawn shop."  
"Alright," Alec had no clue what Magnus meant so the group made their way to find a pawn shop.  
There was one quite close to the station so the group gladly walked inside, Magnus held his camera close to his chest as they entered the shop, he looked around and made his way over to the counter. The kids looked around curiously as Alec followed Magnus towards the counter, Alec caught sight of the camera by Magnus's chest, he grabbed Magnus's shoulder and turned him.   
"You can't sell your camera, like you said, it's where your passion for photography came from."  
"To stop you and the kids from getting in trouble," Magnus shrugged, "I'll do anything," Magnus admitted as he ejected the memory card from the camera, he held the camera out to the desk, "how much for this?"  
"No," Alec placed his hand over the camera, "Magnus, you can't-"  
"I can," Magnus nodded and turned back to the man behind the counter, "how much?"  
"Ninety," the man shrugged carelessly.  
"Hundred and twenty," Magnus tried dealing with the man, Alec watched in sorrow as Magnus tried to part with his camera.  
"Ninety."  
"Hundred and fifteen."  
"Ninetyfive."  
"Hundred and ten."  
"Hundred."  
"Deal," Magnus smiled and pushed the camera over the desk.  
"No," Alec shook his head, he grabbed Magnus by the shoulders, "Magnus are you insane?"  
"Possibly," Magnus waved a hand at Alec, he watched as the man counted one hundred dollars to pass to Magnus. When the money had been pushed across the counter, Magnus checked to make sure he had the correct amount. When he was sure of it, he led the group back out of the store, Alec followed with a look of concern.

***

The group reached the tow yard as the woman was closing the gates.  
"No way is it midnight," Alec mumbled, he ran toward the gate and held it open, "we have the money."  
"Sorry, I'm closing."  
"No! We have the money!"  
"It's almost midnight, kid."  
"Almost midnight, how long were we at the station?" Alec glanced around to Magnus, he shook his head and turned back to the woman as she tried to close the gate again, he kept his hand on it, "listen here, I have had one of the worst nights off my life, I accidentally swapped phones with a stranger. They ended up babysitting some kids and letting a fire happen, they got locked out of the house and lost one of the kids. We tracked him down only to get the car towed by you, then Magnus got arrested trying to get money to pay for this! And the worst thing I've seen all night, Magnus gave up his most prized possession to help me and the kids out, so you will let us have the car back, because I am not taking no for an answer!"  
The woman blinked, she looked at Alec and then around to the group of children, lastly her eyes landed on Magnus, she nodded and pushed the gate back open.  
"Fine."  
The kids cheered and Magnus handed the money over to the miserable woman. 

***

When they arrived back to the Belcourt house, Magnus demanded that they get the house clean before Camille even thought about returning home. It was mostly the kitchen that was a mess, the kids offered to clean the kitchen by themselves, leaving Magnus and Alec to focus on the car. The two boys had to make sure the car was in exactly the same state it had been in when Ms. Belcourt had left the house. As Magnus scrubbed away at one of the tires, Alec sat down by him. He dropped his sponge into the bucket behind Magnus and gave a look of sorrow.  
"I'm sorry."  
"About what?"  
"Yelling at you earlier... And the fact that you had to sell your camera."  
"It's okay," Magnus smiled, "I made friends tonight, they're more precious than a camera."  
"Magnus, your camera..."  
"It's alright, plus tonight I managed to get some great photos for the internship tryout, so I'm still competing," Magnus winked and let out a laugh, “you won’t beat my ‘Princess in the Dark Alley’ photo of Becca, I’m working on the title.”  
Alec pulled out his phone and turned on the camera, "one last photo, for good memories," he held up the phone to take a selfie with Magnus. As Magnus smiled into the camera, Alec pressed a kiss against Magnus's cheek and took the photo. After the photo had been taken Magnus turned to Alec in shock.  
"And... That was?"  
"Magnus, in the beginning I thought you were the worst person to ever exist. In fact, I never wanted to see you again. But tonight changed my opinion, you're willing to sacrifice so much to help others out... You're... You're a nice guy."  
"So are you," Magnus smiled, he pressed a returning kiss on Alec's cheek and chuckled, "not so Nancy Drew after all I guess, but let's continued cleaning the car, yeah?"  
"Yeah."  
The boys did as they said until the car looked brand new again. After admiring their work, Alec grabbed Magnus's hand and pulled him back into the house. They both looked into the kitchen in amazement, it looked untouched and perfect. The kids had already disappeared from the kitchen which meant that they had kept their promise of going to bed once they were finished, except from Simon and Becca who were sat on the sofa tiredly chuckling about something. Instead of walking back into the living room, Alec held Magnus back in the kitchen.  
"Magnus, I'm glad I met you," Alec admitted, he sounded nervous as he spoke, he then let out a laugh and leaned forward. He gently gave Magnus a kiss and smiled as he pulled back.  
"Uh... Wow," Magnus commented, "I liked that."

***

On the morning of the revised internship interviews, Magnus waited around for Alec. He had already handed his portfolio to Luke and had been told that he would be told the choice soon enough. Ten minutes later than the time they were asked to be there, Alec showed up holding two cups of coffee and with a camera around his neck.  
"Hey," Magnus ran up to Alec, "you're late, is something wrong?"  
"No," Alec shook his head and gave Magnus one of his brightest smiles.  
"Where's your portfolio?" Magnus cocked his head, noting that Alec didn't even have a bag with him.  
"This is for you," Alec held out one cup of coffee to Magnus.  
"Thanks... But your-"  
"And so is this," Alec pulled the camera from his neck and held it to Magnus.  
"What? Why?"  
"I declined the internship position," Alec admitted, "so congratulations, you are now Luke Garroway's photography intern!"  
"Oh my God! Alec!"  
"Photography is only a hobby for me, I had no idea who Luke Garroway was before signing up for this internship. Photography is your passion, and you deserve this. I'm giving up the internship as you gave up your camera."  
"Alec, you are... Some kind of angel."  
"Well, angels are perfect, I don’t want to be mister too perfect anymore," Alec laughed, "you've made me realise that life without adventure is boring. The other night was an amazing night, I know I was angry about it all but… Going out into the city for the first time, running through alleys, having you get arrested! It… It really brought out my wildside.”  
“So if you’re not taking the internship, what will you be doing?”  
“Maybe start a babysitting business, if my boyfriend doesn’t mind me having to cancel dates to look after children,” Alec playfully smirked to Magnus.  
“I don’t mind,” Magnus waved a hand, “as long as I get to tag along sometimes, and we take trips to get ice cream.”  
“Do those trips involve getting arrested for suggested prostitution?”  
“Never again,” Magnus chuckled he turned on the camera that Alec had given him and quickly took a photo of the taller boy as he was laughing, “this one… This one is my personal favourite, I think I’ll keep it to myself,” he leaned forward and placed a kiss on Alec’s cheek, “thank you so much, Nancy Drew.”  
“Oh my God.”


End file.
